My brain is inside my head.

It makes my body work.

It makes me think and feel.

It keeps my heart and lungs working.

There are five important parts of the brain

It is the thinking part of the brain. The part that makes us think, see, hear, feel and taste. It also stores our memories.

Our brain is inside our skull, and protected by it.

Cerebellum (saysair-uh-bell-um), at the back of the brain below the cerebrum, controls balance, movement and co-ordination. This part makes our muscles work.

Brain stem, connecting the brain and the spinal cord, controls all the body functions like breathing and circulating blood. This part keeps our hearts beating and our lungs working without us having to think about it.

The pituitary(pit-you-it-airy) gland, is tiny but produces and releases hormones, which help us grow and help change children into adults.

Read more and see labels for the different parts of the brain:

Sending messages to the brain

We each have a backbone, called a spine. Inside it there is a spinal cord. The spinal cord joins the brain at the top of our neck.

All through our body there are nerves which connect to the spinal cord. This is called the nervous system. Messages from the nerves travel along the spinal cord, which takes them to the brain.

Neurons are long, wiry cells that carryelectrical messages through the nervous system and the brain.The messages that are sent to the brain come from our eyes, skin, nose, ears, and tongue. The brain works out what we are seeing, touching, hearing and tasting, and if something hurts or feels good. The brain collects messages about our food and tells us what we are tasting

The brain and our feelings

Running and playing makes you feel happy. Your brain tells you to smile! Getty Images

Scientists are still trying to find out what work our brain does when we have certain feelings. But they agree that the part of the brain that controls our feelings is the largest part of the brain, called the cerebrum. Here's a list of some feelings or as they call them, emotions: fear, anger, sadness, happiness, surprise, jealousy, love.

You can probably add others to this list.

Most scientists seem to agree that when we find ourselves in certain situations, changes happen in our bodies. The brain gets information about the changes and this triggers our feelings. Sometimes our feelings then trigger a change in our behaviour. Here's an example. You are running around playing and having a good time. The situation makes you feel happy. You are in a good mood. You smile or laugh.

Here's a video that shows and tells how the feeling part of the brain works.

If you use any of this in your own work, acknowledge the source in your bibliography like this:

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